1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to building construction and repair, and, in particular, to repair of buildings damaged by flooding.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
Buildings, and especially residential buildings, are often damaged by flooding during a storm. When this happens, the time and cost to repair the building and make it habitable can be substantial.
The standard prior art repair procedure used, regardless of whether the flooding “high water” mark is one inch (2.54 cm.) or 47 inches (1.2 m.) above the floor level, is to remove the existing wall's baseboard, then to cuttingly remove the existing (damaged) wall covering, such as drywall plaster or gypsum board (such as that sold under the trademark SHEETROCK by United States Gypsum Company), from the wall's studs at a height of four feet (1.2 m.) above the floor, then remove any flood-damaged insulation from within the wall, air dry the flooded wall space using drying blowers, then replace the wall covering with new drywall plaster or gypsum board, tape and plaster (“mud”) the seams, sand the taped seams, replace the baseboard, and then paint the entire repaired wall and baseboard.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that most non-disaster flooding is due to basement flooding or room flooding caused by flash floods. Even if the “high water” mark from flooding is only six inches (15 cm.) or so above the floor, as is the case with most flooding, the drywall plaster or gypsum board wall covering will become waterlogged and damaged by the flooding, and wicking of the water up the gypsum board may even cause water damage above the high water flooding mark. Additionally, because of issues of mold and contamination inside the walls, and absorption of water by insulation within the walls, it is necessary to tear out or remove the wall covering so that damaged insulation can be removed and so that drying blowers can be used to dry the interior of the walls to prevent the growth of mold within the walls.
Again, such repair and reconstruction is time consuming and expensive, and delays the time until the damaged building can become habitable. For buildings located in a flood plain or in costal regions, such repair and reconstruction can happen year after year.
It is therefore desirable to have an improved construction material for use in such repair and reconstruction situations after flooding, and which facilitates the repair and reconstruction process at lesser cost and labor expenditure than heretofore possible. It is further desirable to provide an improved construction material for use in new building construction prior to flooding that will lessen the repair time if flooding should occur in the future.